Here's how Google is laying the foundation for our mixed reality future At The Android Show: XR Edition, the company showed off some major updates headed to what could be its next big OS. Here are two of Google's reference model smart glasses. The one in the front features dual RGB waveguide displays while the one in the back relies on a single monocular screen. Today, during the XR edition of The Android Show, Google showed off a bunch of updates and new features headed to its mixed reality OS. And while most of the news was aimed at developers, I got a chance to demo some of the platform's expanded capabilities on a range of hardware including Samsung's Galaxy XR headset, two different reference designs and an early version of Xreal's Project Aura smart glasses and I came away rather impressed.

I've been eagerly awaiting the advent of spatial computing. My home office desk setup, with multiple screens and browser windows, helps me be very productive. But on the go, I'm relegated to a laptop's 13-inch screen (or packing a portable monitor), and I'm not as efficient. Spatial computing--usually driven by a mixed reality headset or smart glasses--lets you craft a multi-monitor virtual workspace, where you can place apps and browser windows around your periphery, to replicate the experience you have set up at home or the office. Or you can take it a step further because you're only limited by your imagination.

It's been a while since I've tried a pair of personal cinema-style AR glasses given their propensity to be rubbish. The field of view is often too restrictive, they're often too low-res and they're often prone to giving me eyestrain headaches. But after I tried on Xreal's new One Pro glasses at CES 2025, I was suitably impressed as the company's latest addresses all of those gripes and plenty more. Xreal turned up in Las Vegas to show off the One Pro, which is a marginal improvement on the Xreal One that debuted, and quickly sold out, a month ago. Both pairs are equipped with the company's first in-house spatial computing chip, delivering less blur, no flicker and a 120Hz refresh rate.